Since 1979, the Intercontinental Championship has been in operation with Pat Patterson as the inaugural champion. Traditionally, the Intercontinental Championship has been seen as the stepping stone to becoming a WWE World Champion. The likes of Randy Savage, The Rock, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels among others benefited from holding the Intercontinental Championship before they went on to win the WWE Championship.

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Unfortunately, the Intercontinental Championship has become an afterthought for the past decade. To sum up, the sorry state that the Intercontinental Championship finds itself in, it hasn't been contested on a WWE premium live event since WrestleMania 37. That's unacceptable, but WWE's mid-card championships are meaningless at the moment. Nevertheless, the past 10 Intercontinental Champions were a mixture of superb and others were underwhelming.

10 Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman Intercontinental Champion Cropped

Braun Strowman's reign as Intercontinental Champion was one of the most underwhelming Intercontinental Championship reigns in WWE history. The Monster Among Men brought the curtain down on Shinsuke Nakamura's dismal Intercontinental Championship reign on the January 31, 2020 edition of SmackDown.

That's as good as it got for Strowman as he only defended the Intercontinental Championship once. He was on the losing end to Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Nakamura in a handicap match at Elimination Chamber. Strowman didn't dwell on the loss for too long, as he was fortunate to step in as Roman Reigns' replacement, and he dethroned Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36.

9 Bobby Lashley

Bobby Lashley Intercontinental Champion Cropped

Bobby Lashley is a two-time Intercontinental Champion, and his second run with the Intercontinental Championship was pointless. Lashley reclaimed the Intercontinental Title from Finn Balor on the March 11, 2019, episode of Raw.

The Almighty lost the Intercontinental Championship to Balor in the first place although Lio Rush took the fall in their handicap match at Elimination Chamber. Nevertheless, Lashley failed to retain the Intercontinental Championship in his lone title defense. Balor recaptured the gold from Lashley in a quick Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 35. The abrupt title changes devalued the Intercontinental Championship as there was no stability.

8 Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy Intercontinental Champion Cropped

No one feeds on the energy of a live crowd like Jeff Hardy. The Charismatic Enigma is one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time. Hardy has five Intercontinental Championship reigns to his name, and he unexpectedly ended AJ Styles' Intercontinental Title reign on an episode of SmackDown in August 2020.

Hardy successfully retained the title against Shinsuke Nakamura, and Styles failed to reclaim the title from him. However, Sami Zayn returned and claimed that he was the real Intercontinental Champion. The score was settled in one of the best ladder matches in WWE history with Hardy, Zayn, and Styles colliding at Clash of Champions 2020 with Zayn retrieving the two Intercontinental Titles that were erected above the ring.

7 Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura Intercontinental Champion Cropped

When Shinsuke Nakamura won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time on the Extreme Rules 2019 kick-off show, this was the chance for Nakamura to push on. Unfortunately, his 201-day reign as Intercontinental Champion fell flat. He only defended the Intercontinental Championship four times which is poor, considering how long he held the title.

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You would have thought that WWE would have learned how to book Nakamura as Intercontinental Champion but they didn't. He became a two-time Intercontinental Champion after he ended Apollo's Intercontinental Title run in the summer of 2021. Nakamura didn't even defend the title at SummerSlam but he made a cameo with Rick Boogs. In total, both of his Intercontinental Title runs lasted 390 days with six title defenses which sum up the bad booking of the Intercontinental Championship.

6 Ricochet

Ricochet Intercontinental Champion Cropped

At the time of writing, Ricochet is 74 days and counting into his maiden Intercontinental Championship reign. Fans breathed a sigh of relief when Ricochet ended Sami Zayn's Intercontinental Championship reign as Zayn was feuding with Johnny Knoxville.

Ricochet has yet to defend the Intercontinental Championship on a premium live event. It's a shame that he was omitted from WrestleMania 38, and he defended the gold on WrestleMania SmackDown instead. Nevertheless, Ricochet is talented, and hopefully, he enters a meaningful rivalry to get the Intercontinental Championship back on the map. So far, Richochet has defended the title four times, which is an encouraging sign for the future of the Intercontinental Championship.

5 Apollo Crews

Apollo Crews Intercontinental Champion Cropped

A heel turn can galvanize a wrestler's career, and that's exactly what happened to Apollo Crews. Apollo captured the Intercontinental Championship from Big E in a Nigerian Drum Fight at WrestleMania 37. Nonetheless, Apollo can thank Commander Azeez for his Intercontinental Title reign as he assaulted Big E.

Despite defending the Intercontinental Championship five times, Apollo failed to defend the title on a premium live event which is disappointing. He held the Intercontinental Championship for 123 days with King Nakamura ending his decent run with the Intercontinental Championship.

4 AJ Styles

AJ Styles Intercontinental Champion 1st Reign

AJ Styles is a two-time WWE Champion, and the Intercontinental Championship was finally added to his mantlepiece in June 2020. The Phenomenal One overcame Daniel Bryan in a match at the highest order, which was one of the best matches in the COVID-19 pandemic era of WWE in the Performance Center. Styles' Intercontinental Championship reign lasted 74 days.

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There were several challengers including Riddle and Drew Gulak who were unsuccessful in taking the Intercontinental Championship away from him. It wasn't a vintage championship reign from Styles by any stretch, but it's a big deal every time he holds a championship with Jeff Hardy taking the gold away from him.

3 Finn Balor

Finn Balor Intercontinental Champion Cropped

Finn Balor's first time as Intercontinental Champion was poor, but he became a two-time Intercontinental Champion at WrestleMania 35 when he overcame Bobby Lashley with ease. Balor held the Intercontinental Championship for 98 days.

Balor should have held the Intercontinental Championship for a long time but it wasn't to be. He retained the gold against the likes of Sami Zayn, Elias, and Andrade at Super ShowDown 2019. Ultimately, Shinsuke Nakamura got the better of him on the kick-off show of Extreme Rules 2019 to end his title reign sooner than he would have wanted it to have ended.

2 Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn Intercontinental Champion

It was a wise decision for WWE to put the Intercontinental Championship on Sami Zayn. The Great Liberator is a three-time Intercontinental Champion and he was proud to hold the championship. The COVID-19 pandemic had different ideas for Zayn's maiden Intercontinental Championship reign though. He successfully defended the title against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 36, but he opted to stay at home for a few months during the height of the pandemic.

Zayn won the Intercontinental Title in a ladder match at Clash of Champions 2020 shortly after he returned. He represented SmackDown in a losing effort to Raw's United States Champion Bobby Lashley at Survivor Series 2020. Nonetheless, Zayn won the title for the third time in 2022, but Ricochet ended his reign, and he could shift his attention toward Johnny Knoxville.

1 Big E

Big E Intercontinental Champion Cropped

Big E was allowed to flourish on his lonesome as he remained on SmackDown with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston moving to Raw in the 2020 draft. Big E kickstarted his second run as Intercontinental Champion after he ended Sami Zayn's Intercontinental Championship reign emphatically.

The first time he held the Intercontinental Championship, Big E hardly had any personality. This time the former New Day member received a lot of love. However, Big E was Intercontinental Champion for 107 days, and Apollo was one of his main challengers. Big E's Intercontinental Championship reign was decent, but Apollo finally managed to overcome Big E for the title at WrestleMania 37.